Nine small pagodas built without permission within the Angkor Wat compound will be dismantled soon and “hundreds” of monks and beggars will be evicted, officials said Monday.
The structures were built during the 1980s and 1990s without permission from religious officials, said Muong Ra, executive director of Buddhist discipline for the Mohanikaya sect. He said the order was issued by Mohanikaya Patriarch Tep Vong and is to take effect before Khmer New Year begins. The structures are a threat to public order, the environment and tourism, he said.
The pagodas “have asked for money donations and then [the money] is used for personal interests,” Moung Ra said. He said such behavior contradicts Buddhist order and discipline.
The order will affect an estimated 170 monks who have been living in the pagodas. Chea Sophat, Cultural Heritage Police chief for Siem Reap province, said “hundreds of beggars” have also been staying in the pagodas, and that some have been bothering tourists. Tourism and heritage police officials have cracked down recently on vendors within the Angkor Archaeological Park, banning them from selling inside temples and moving some farther away from the temples.
Two pagodas built in the 1940s, which have been recognized by King Norodom Sihanouk, are exempt, Muong Ra said.
